life, death, and hope in a Mumbai undercityKatherine Boo

Courier Mail

Elle

'A riveting, fearlessly reported portrait of a poverty so obliterating that it amounts to a slow-motion genocide. Right now the book is sitting on my shelf making all the other books feel stupid.'

Entertainment Weekly

‘A beautifully written, at times funny tale that is even more moving because it's true.’

Herald Sun

‘Boo has combined heartbreak, humour and drama to create a brilliant and thought-provoking read.’

Madison

‘[An] exquisitely accomplished first book.’

Janet Maslin, New York Times

‘A shocking — and riveting — portrait of life in modern India. … This is one stunning piece of narrative nonfiction …’

O Magazine

‘A mind-blowing read.’

Redbook

‘A small masterpiece of documentary storytelling.’

Sydney Morning Herald

‘Boo's meticulous work is a must for India watchers, of course, but it is also a great example of the power of what used to be known as immersion journalism. And a cracking read.’

The Age

‘This is Boo's first book. It proclaims an astonishing ambition and a prodigious talent to match. Backed up by meticulous reporting, she delivers a non-fiction novel that combines all the emotional power of a story well told with the added intoxication that readers know all this really happened.’

Jose Borghino, The Australian

‘Boo’s reporting is a form of kinship … There are books that change the way you feel and see; this is one of them. If we receive the fiery spirit from which it was written, it ought to change much more than that.’

Adrian LeBlanc, author of Random Family

‘This is a superb book.’

Tracy Kidder, author of Mountains Beyond Mountains

‘A Mumbai slum imagined and understood as never before in language of intense beauty.’

Salman Rushdie

‘A stunning achievement — a monumental work of humane and painstaking observation.’

Anna Funder, author of All That I Am

‘The book is a compelling read. It could be a novel; the pace is fast and moments of humour are sweet in the midst of tragedy and mishap. The characters are wonderfully conceived … ’

Canberra Times

From Pulitzer Prize-winner Katherine Boo comes a landmark work of narrative nonfiction that tells the dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking story of families striving toward a better life in one of the world’s most lively but treacherous cities.

Annawadi is a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport and, as India starts to prosper, Annawadians are electric with hope. Abdul, a reflective and enterprising Muslim teenager, sees ‘a fortune beyond counting’ in the recyclable garbage that richer people throw away. Asha, a woman of formidable wit and deep scars from a childhood in rural poverty, has identified an alternate route to the middle class: political corruption. With a little luck, her sensitive, beautiful daughter — Annawadi’s ‘most-everything girl’ — will soon become its first female college graduate. And even the poorest Annawadians, like Kalu, a 15-year-old scrap-metal thief, believe themselves inching closer to the good lives and good times they call ‘the full enjoy’.

But then Abdul the garbage sorter is falsely accused in a shocking tragedy; terror and a global recession rock the city; and suppressed tensions over religion, caste, sex, power, and economic envy turn brutal. As the tenderest individual hopes intersect with the greatest global truths, the true contours of a competitive age are revealed. And so, too, are the imaginations and courage of the people of Annawadi.

With intelligence, humour, and deep insight into what connects human beings in an era of tumultuous change, Behind the Beautiful Forevers carries the reader headlong into one of the 21st century’s hidden worlds, and into the lives of people impossible to forget.

Courier Mail

Elle

'A riveting, fearlessly reported portrait of a poverty so obliterating that it amounts to a slow-motion genocide. Right now the book is sitting on my shelf making all the other books feel stupid.'

Entertainment Weekly

‘A beautifully written, at times funny tale that is even more moving because it's true.’

Herald Sun

‘Boo has combined heartbreak, humour and drama to create a brilliant and thought-provoking read.’

Madison

‘[An] exquisitely accomplished first book.’

Janet Maslin, New York Times

‘A shocking — and riveting — portrait of life in modern India. … This is one stunning piece of narrative nonfiction …’

O Magazine

‘A mind-blowing read.’

Redbook

‘A small masterpiece of documentary storytelling.’

Sydney Morning Herald

‘Boo's meticulous work is a must for India watchers, of course, but it is also a great example of the power of what used to be known as immersion journalism. And a cracking read.’

The Age

‘This is Boo's first book. It proclaims an astonishing ambition and a prodigious talent to match. Backed up by meticulous reporting, she delivers a non-fiction novel that combines all the emotional power of a story well told with the added intoxication that readers know all this really happened.’

Jose Borghino, The Australian

‘Boo’s reporting is a form of kinship … There are books that change the way you feel and see; this is one of them. If we receive the fiery spirit from which it was written, it ought to change much more than that.’

Adrian LeBlanc, author of Random Family

‘This is a superb book.’

Tracy Kidder, author of Mountains Beyond Mountains

‘A Mumbai slum imagined and understood as never before in language of intense beauty.’

Salman Rushdie

‘A stunning achievement — a monumental work of humane and painstaking observation.’

CATEGORIES / tags

AUTHOR

Katherine Boo

Katherine Boo, a staff writer for The New Yorker, has spent the last 20 years reporting from within poor communities, considering how societies distribute opportunity and how individuals get out of poverty. She learned to report at The Washington City Paper. She was also an editor of the Washington Monthly and, for nearly a decade, a reporter and editor at The Washington Post. Behind the Beautiful Forevers, her first book, received the United States' National Book Award. Her magazine and newspaper work has been recognised with a MacArthur Fellowship, a National Magazine Award for Feature Writing, and the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.